THE ROLE OF LAY THEORIES IN PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION TO CHANGES PROCESSES

• Authors: Lachowicz-Tabaczek K.
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The subject of considerations undertaken in this article is concerned with the role of lay theories of change in perception and adaptation to changes processes. It was argued that entity and incremental theories about the nature of the world and peoples' traits influence the way an individual interprets changes and the methods of adaptation to them. The assumptions are based on the research concerned the correlates and consequences of lay theories of change and the Richard Lazarus theory of cognitive appraisal. It was assumed that entity theorists perceive change as generally unfavourable event on which they react getting threatened and upset. Because of the fact that entity theorists assess poorly their ability of problem handling they adopt to new situations by withdrawing from involvement or making effort. If avoidance is impossible, they accept the inconvenient circumstances. On the other hand, the incremental theorists response on unfavourable change with hope they can improve the situation. Therefore, they use active methods of coping with negative causes of changes even if they are irreversible. The functionality of both adaptation methods was considered depending on the character of the change (possible to alter or impossible to reverse) and the entity or incremental theory.

Keywords

EN

ADAPTATION; CHANGE'S THEORIES

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences jointly with the Committee on Psychological Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kolokwia Psychologiczne (Psychological Colloquia)
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 12
• Pages: 53-68
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Lachowicz-Tabaczek K.

• K. Lachowicz-Tabaczek, Uniwersytet Wroclawski, Instytut Psychologii, ul. Dawida 1, 50-527 Wroclaw, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

05PLAAAA0029689